I am spending the day in the ATL airport and just noticed something interesting. The amount of Airbus aircraft (operated by DL) that now call ATL their home. Back in the day you might see a UA or F9 even some others, but now there are A319, A320, and A330's all over the place. I am not trying to spark an A vs. B topic!! I just thought it was neat to see all the variety of aircraft now operating in the DL paint scheme. Anyone else?

Quoting delta762 (Thread starter):I just thought it was neat to see all the variety of aircraft now operating in the DL paint scheme. Anyone else?

Likewise could be said for the MD's 777's and 767's plying MSP and DTW ....

Would one expect anything different from a merger that brought 90% of the commercial a/c manufacturers together in one Carrier? Saab's CRJ's E's DC's MD's A's B's ..... I mean who is left to throw into this stew???

I agree, it is nice to the variety. It seems as if though they are trying to maximize their opportunities, putting the right capacity on the right routes. For example, a primary reason many 737s have shifted to DTW is due to the fact that they are trying to utilize aircraft with IFE on the long transcontinental routes (DTW-SAN, DTW-LAX, MSP-LAX, etc.) so that passengers will have something to play with as opposed to an A320 with no IFE besides Wi-Fi. A lot of the former ATL routes that utilized aircraft with IFE were either short or "less deserving" dare I say it.

You will also see that some outstations get larger aircraft from MSP and DTW than from ATL now. DL wants larger frequencies to ATL with the same/less capacity to the other hubs. Also the AB equipment in ATL allows some cities that have a large number of business flyers to have a higher F-Y ratio. The A319 also makes for much better equipment for the BOS-NYC and the Florida-NE flights. Fewer seats to fill, giving DTW more seat capacity with the M88 fleet. The only downfall to all of the right sizing seems to be with MTC issues. The MTC guys getting used to the new fleet types and they can have a tough time getting parts from stores in other cities.

Quoting delta762 (Thread starter):. Back in the day you might see a UA or F9 even some others, but now there are A319, A320, and A330's all over the place

I remember when America West was running a large number of flights to PHX and LAS and there would be at least one or two HP a/c parked on E so to free the common use gates they used on D. US did throw the occasion Airbus into ATL, but for awhile it was a mix of CRJs, E-Jets and 737s. I remember when Air France, Sabena and Austrian flew A330s into ATL. When Swissair retired their MD-11s (which had replaced the 743 on the ATL-GVA service), they put the A330 on the route.

Quoting DAL767400ER (Reply 11):Put them on the sub-300 mile flights out of ATL and stop that "12 daily CRJs to Chattanooga/Asheville/etc" BS.

I posted on this not too long ago. The likes of AGS, AVL, BQK, CHA, CSG, DHN, MGM, and VLD. I think the DHC-8-300 would be a perfect fit with a nice little subleet. The Q400 IMHO is too much a/c for the markets that would be a good fit for turboprop service. If the market does call for that many seats, its most likely being operating by a mixture of CR2s and CR7s with an F cabin.

Quoting Surprise (Reply 10): North Central's DC-3's. Now that would be nice to see again!

Well that was ruined by NW management as ship 728 was repainted from NC livery to NW in the 1990s It is resting quite comfortably at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan and once held the distinction of logging the most air time in history